Mark, in the real world it’s more likely that the pedestrians will be arraigned on misdemeanor charges for denting the police cruiser.

Keith

While this is horrifying, it is as far from shocking. I have been involved in many near misses with NYPD cruisers and ambulances running with out light or sirens. There is a culture of entitlement that pervades the NYPD that has convinced cops that they aren’t there to enforce the law, rather that they are the law. Hence, traffic laws are only for the civilians.

Benepe’s Bicycle Blog is reporting that the killer of NYC cyclist, Camille Savoy got of scot-free in a New Jersey court even though the evidnece indicated that the driver was a foot and a half over the fog line when she hit him in the shoulder of Rt 9 in Alpine.

Even a pathetic careless driving ticket couldn’t stick to this killer!

Would the results have been the same if she killed the driver of another car?!?!

A guy who lives right at the scene had some disturbing things to say. To try to repeat what he said as accurately as I can remember, he said “80 cops” were swarming around the cops in the crashed cruiser, but not around the several people who were hit, including, he said, a baby in a stroller. When bystanders started telling the cops to attend to the other injured people, the cops started yelling “Shut up! Shut the f— up!” at them. He said “I can understand that, I’d be like that too if it was a coworker of mine; I’d be emotional too. But after a while the ‘protect and serve’ instinct is supposed to kick in.”

He also said that the street is like a racetrack for civilians and cops alike, and that cops regularly hit people and dogs there.

I did’t ask him to estimate how often that happens, but I asked him to clarify–“cops often hit people and dogs here?” and he said they do.

The PIX News 10 o’clock program just reported that the first ambulance took away only the injured cops and ignored the pedestrians, including the baby. Considering what ddartley says above, I guess they did what the cops who appeared on the scene told them to do. No charges will be filed — it was an “accident.”

Josh

Remember, this is Avenue D. Police behave differently here, and show very little respect for the res. (Well, maybe not, on second thought, if one considers the police officer who pushed a cyclist off a bike in Times Sq.)

It is a pity. Seems too many crashes happened in this week. Every one should cherish the life. Everyday should be happy.

J:Lai

This is a disgusting example of police behavior. Although I’m not a fan of Giuliani-era quality of life policing strategy, aka “broken windows”, I think it could apply here.
If you send the message to cops that it’s ok to park their cars in illegal spots or on the sidewalk, they internalize an “above the law” attitude and eventually end up pulling stunts like the one today, injuring people and causing property damage, and sometimes killing people.
And the response of the officers on the scene is equally revolting. Take care of their own (who were the cause of the problem) and ignore everyone else.

Everyone should oppose the conditions that bring about these violent crashes every week of the year, like clockwork.

guest

Today I saw something messed up on 20th street near 13 precinct. Biker gets rear ended by a police cruiser 5417 11 @ approximately 5:23pm. Cop jumps out and screams I said pull over. They grab a small man in his 20s with brown hair and shove him in the cruiser. In the 10 seconds prior I heard no sirens or amplified voice saying pull over.

Not sure I want to file a report to NYC civilian complaint review board. I’d rather stay anonymous. Do I really want to get retaliation?

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